Deal reached to avert shutdown this fall

Jul. 31, 2012 - 04:00PM
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, pictured, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner struck a deal to avert a government shutdown. (T.J. Kirkpatrick / Getty Images)

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President Obama, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., have struck a deal to avert a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.

Boehner and Reid said Tuesday that the six-month continuing resolution — through March — will fund the government at $1.047 trillion.

“This agreement reached between the Senate, the House and the White House provides stability for the coming months, when we will have to resolve critical issues that directly affect middle-class families,” Reid said. “I hope that we can face the challenges ahead in the same spirit of compromise.”

The leaders expect lawmakers and their staffs will write the continuing resolution over the August recess, and have it ready for Congress to vote on in September.

Reid said the CR will give lawmakers breathing room to negotiate this fall over the so-called “fiscal cliff” — the round of steep budget cuts known as sequestration and the planned expiration of the Bush tax cuts — that is expected to deal a steep blow to the economy.

The CR will also reduce the chances of a chaotic government shutdown a month before the November election.